Embracing the horror

We make plans. I had a good one for Saturday. Go to Schreiner University and get a nice photo of graduating seniors and do a blog about surviving graduation. Then on to Kerr Arts & Cultural Center to hear Dr. Robin Clark do a talk and slide show presentation on The Making of an Artist, on the development of kid’s creativity, and get a nice shot of me and Dr. Clark.
Anyway, that was the plan, until I woke up Saturday morning feeling nauseous and feverish. I showered and got ready anyway, but had to lie immediately down, still with the upset stomach. I realized the 30 mile drive out to the university was probably a bad and unsafe idea considering how I was feeling, so I called Brett, one of the seniors who had arranged for our meeting, and had to leave a message on her phone as no one answered. Then I fell back to sleep for another 2 hours.
When I woke up I felt so guilty about cancelling on the young people that I decided at least I could drive out and take some pictures of the show to use , having missed a chance to photograph them, and how hard would it be to just sit ad watch slides and a one hour lecture after all?

So, chamomile tea in hand and a warm head I ventured out. I arrived at Schreiner’s and ran upstairs to quickly shoot pictures of the show, 2.87 lbs. The concept for the show was to illustrate how the human brain, (which weighs 2.87 lbs by the way) is effected through three different themes:
Brett Morrison’s theme: Compensate creativity/ dyslexia
Kelby Ruiz: The Mental side / golf
Laura Nentrup: Beneficial pets / animals

I had been to the opening reception earlier in the week and thoroughly enjoyed each of their unique takes on exploring the subject of the brain and how it’s effected on specific subject matter. What was significant to me was the fact that they had each taken an approach that was uniquely personal to them. Brett is dyslexic, Kelby a golfer, and Laura an animal lover. Through their graphic arts program, they each assembled a show that showed exactly how the brain interacts with a subject near and dear to them. I was excited to show some photos of the exhibit on the blog, but more there in a minute.
Now I am still queasy and warmish, race through the show and taking pictures quickly, drag myself back to my car to try and make the beginning of Dr. Clark’s talk. After she begins, I realize it’s a 2 hour talk, not 1, but sit down in a feverish mist and watch slide after slide of delightful children’s art as she walked us through the 3 stages of cognitive development in children’s art; scribbling, symbol, and realism.

The children’s art was interspersed with master’s works to show how many of them reverted back to these early stages at different parts of their own careers. It was cleverly illustrated over and over again at each of the stages. But it was a struggle for me to sit comfortably until the subject of the circle came up. Dr. Clark pointed out that between the ages of 4 – 8, universally, children begin drawing circles. The mandala form. And it is seen as a major step as an abstract leap to representational art. If you have read my ABOUT section, you will realize that the mandala form plays heavily into my canvas collage body of work. And to my surprise, realized how I too had apparently reverted back to one of the early stages of cognitive development as a mature artist. I could use the term ‘full circle’ to best illustrate the great take away from Dr. Clark’s talk.

As she concluded, I was having waves of nausia again, but really wanted a nice picture of us together for the blog posting, so I handed my camera to a woman in the audience and asked her to please take a picture of us in front of the last impactful slide on the screen. The slide, entitled, LOOSE TOOTH, was a huge child’s mouth, big red lipped grin with a floating unattached tongue , rows and rows of white square teeth with braces and one little tooth coming up. I positioned myself and Dr. Clark in front of the slide and just handed her the camera and said, “Nothing to it, just push the button!” And so she did, I shook hands all around and beat a path for home before I got any worse and was unable to drive home.
There I collapsed on the bed and woke up 6 hours later.

As I downloaded the pictures to see what I was going to use, I was horrified to see I had the left the flash on for all of the photos I took at the 2.87lbs. exhibit, getting nothing but huge glaring reflections. Basically, unusable. But the best was yet to come , as there I stood smiling with Dr. Clark in front of LOOSE TOOTH, with giant red lips going across my face. Disaster. Well, I decided to embrace the horror of the entire day and share it with you anyway. Lesson learned .Stay home when you are sick or expect less than perfect results.

So to the young people, my apologies again for missing our photo op and screwing up the show shots. Please enjoy this less than flattering shot of me with giant red lips over my face as payback. And don’t forget, LEAVING SCHOOL IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS ENTERING SCHOOL. Because, to end is to begin.